


Fire Fall

by DrowningInStarlight



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone: Amnesty (Podcast)
Genre: Amnesty, Chosen One Angst, Early in Canon, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, TAZ Amnesty, Takes Place during the end of the amnesty mini arc, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-27 08:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16698733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrowningInStarlight/pseuds/DrowningInStarlight
Summary: The Abomination plaguing the forest may have been defeated, but the victory wasn't without casualties. Aubrey Little, Lady Flame, lies unconscious in a hospital bed. Duck feels guilty. Ned saves the situation.





	Fire Fall

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not quite up to date yet, but this idea would not leave me alone! I love the Amnesty crew.

Duck hated hospitals. Kepler's St Frances did good work, of course, work Duck applauded, but something about it-- the smell, maybe, or the sound-- he couldn't put his finger on it, but it made him panicky. He normally did everything he could to avoid going in. But after the Abomination, the fire that had leapt so quickly out of control... He had to be here. He owed it to the people inside. 

He was standing in the waiting room, Ned by his side. There were empty seats, but when they'd first arrived they'd looked at the seats, then each other, and silently agreed to just hover by the wall. Sitting down felt official, like they had a reason to be there-- and they did, technically, but they didn't know Aubrey very well and it felt wrong to act like they did. But they couldn't just _leave._

They'd been waiting... For how long? Duck realised he didn't know. Time felt like something that had been left behind in the Monongehela, along with the smell of burning fur. They'd been waiting for a while when a doctor came into the waiting room and smiled at them. Duck recognised him as Derek Harper. He'd been the terror of the woodland once upon a time, constantly lighting bonfires on camping trips with his boyfriend and girlfriend, but he was a good kid. Well, not really a kid anymore, he'd been working at the hospital for a few years, Duck reckoned. He lost count. God, he was tired. 

"Duck, Ned," he said. "I'm pleased to tell you that Ms Little and... Mama?"

"That's the one," Duck confirmed. 

"Cool, cool," Derek said. "Well, they're both going to be fine. Ms Little inhaled a lot of smoke, but give it a few days and she'll be right as rain." 

Ned smiled, and with a quiet sigh Duck released the last little bit of the tension he'd been carrying since the Abomination first showed up in his forest. He known they were going to be okay, really-- Mama struck him as the kind of woman who is very hard to keep down, and she'd got Aubrey out in time-- but they'd got hurt in the forest. Where it's supposed to be his job to _prevent_ people from getting hurt. 

"Can we see her?" Ned asked. 

"She's asleep at the moment," Derek told them. "But sure, as long as you're quiet." He led the way into a ward, all crisp blues and greys. "Friends of hers, are you?" 

"Yeah," Ned said. "Colleagues?" He looked at Duck. 

"Yeah, colleagues seems 'bout right," he agreed. He'd taken his hat off them they'd first entered the hospital, and now he fidgeted with it between his fingers. God, he really didn't like hospitals. They were the polar opposite of the forest-- sickness in shades of Arctic blue, always too hot, too busy. He missed the soft greens and browns of the trees, peaceful where these corridors itched with stress and worry. 

He couldn't escape to the forest, now, however. Not yet. Not when Aubrey Little, Lady Flame, was lying unconscious under hospital blankets. 

He'd never seen her so still before. He hadn't exactly known her for long, but she'd spent every second of that time being bright and friendly and impulsive, as vibrant as the flames she could summon at will. Duck liked her. It was hard not to like Aubrey Little, with her patter and her laughter and her stupid gigantic rabbit. But you don't watch over the bedside of someone you just _like._ That wasn't the reason he was here now. 

The thing was, he'd seen kids like her before. Not often, not for long, but he didn't need long to understand how the story was going to go. No, he knew that particular tale like the back of his hand. He saw _chosen ones,_ chosen by fate or chance or luck, all vivid bravery and reckless love. He saw them passing through the Cryptonomica when he was hanging out with Ned, searching for whatever had called them, or hiking through the forest, following a pull they didn't understand. He saw them choosing their destiny the way it had chosen them, and then he saw them getting hurt because of it. Over and over. It was a story that had played out a thousand times, in a thousand ways. 

There was never anything he could say. He'd stopped trying a long while ago. Now he just kept an eye on them when he could, helped ease their journey through Kepler. That was all he could do-- they'd never really been his responsibility, after all, just passing through. Aubrey wasn't his responsibility either, and he certainly knew better than to try and dissuade her from following the fate that was clearly calling to her. Still. Here she was, hurt, and here he was, twisting his hat between his fingers and wishing he was anywhere else. 

"You okay there, Duck?" Ned asked, touching his shoulder lightly. Duck suddenly had the feeling that Ned might have said his name several times before he'd noticed. 

"Yeah, I'm... Yeah." 

Ned glanced at him sideways, and goddamn it, he's known Ned a while. He'd chased him out of the Monongahela for doing all kinds of crazy shit more times than he could count on his fingers, and after a while the chases had started to end in sharing a drink at the local bar once Duck's shift ended. Duck had never been good at hiding things anyway, and he knew Ned could tell when he's upset. 

"Apologies, Lady Flame," Ned said with a flourish in Aubrey's direction, because that's just the kind of person he is. "But I think I need to take friend Duck away from here and to somewhere where we might find, say, a stiff drink. I'm sure you understand." 

"Ned..." Duck said, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly. Ned cheerfully ignored him and said his farewells to the still unconscious Aubrey. He took Duck's arm and led him outside, nodding at Derek as they passed. 

"I'm _fine_ , Ned," Duck said quietly as they came out into the car park. 

"I don't doubt it," Ned agreed soothingly, steering them towards the car. "But look at it this way. We won! We defeated the beast terrorizing our town! If we don't get to have a drink or two in celebration, then what is the point of saving the world, friend Duck?" 

"Now ain't that the million dollar question," Duck said, but got into the car without argument. 

"Besides! It has been entirely too long since I kicked your ass at darts," Ned challenged. 

"Horseshit. You have shitty aim, Ned." 

"Maybe so, maybe so-- but we both know who's winning the championship, and his name doesn't rhyme with Buck Mewton." 

"That's because last time we played, I had the _flu,_ you old cheat." 

Ned grinned, and hit the gas. The Lincoln pulled out of the hospital car park and away. Duck looked at Ned quickly. He was still grinning, and you could practically hear the smugness. 

"Oh ho, don't think I don't see you, Ned Chicane," Duck said. "You ain't fooling me. I know you're just trying to distract me." 

Ned shrugged. "Is it working?" 

"...Maybe, yeah." He paused, and fiddled with the brim of his hat again. "Hey, Ned?" 

"Hmm?" 

"Thanks."

"But of course. Now, about that darts game--"

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always welcomed :D


End file.
